Now A Member Of The Backspin-Over-The-Net Club!

For the first time in a USTA match, I won a point when my shot landed in the opponent's court and backspun over the net!!

Indoors, on clay. My shot was a volley, but not a very good one. Definitely caught some frame. It popped up pretty high and landed close to the net as the opponent raced from the baseline up to try to smack a winner. The funky backspin made it head back over to my side of the net.

Opponent arrived at the ball as it was already on my side of the net but high enough for her to reach. She made a hesitant attempt to play it -- raising her racket and then pulling back -- but chose not to hit it. Point and game to us.

At the changeover, we all had a good chuckle, but the opponent said something interesting. She said, "I got there, but I realized I couldn't reach onto your side of the net to play the ball. So I was screwed."

Uh oh. Someone hasn't been watching John Lovitz's Tennis Channel segments on the rules apparently. We explained that this was the one situation where she could have reached across.

Anyway, has anyone else ever won a point in this fashion? Can I be in the club even though my shot was an accident?

I've done if on backhand drop and stab volleys, never on purpose.
I've done it on backhand drop attempts, blown because it was too high, and I gave up thinking it was short.
Hitting that shot on a serve takes real skill.

wow, small world...playing doubs last night opposition hit one of these, maybe a mishit,windy....I had to reach over the net to barely hit it off the tip of my racket, took a nose dive and spun sideways for a winner! everybody got a good chuckle and my partner called it the ugliest point ever,,,

That shot is actually in my arsenal! I used to practice it a lot, and I can hit it about 80-90 percent of the time. It's pretty fun to watch your opponent run as fast as they can to get it, and it just roll back over to your side!

I've overheaded one like that. It was a super miss-hit off the top of the frame. Backspin like crazy. I insisted that the scorekeeper mark it down as a "winner."

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I had that exact same shot hit against me a few weeks ago. I hit a relatively poor overhead, my opponent got in position to kill the overhead and I was standing behind the baseline trying to get a read on where to anticipate the overhead, and he completely miss-hit it, just like yours. We both had a good laugh about it, but he had the last laugh - he won the point

That shot is actually in my arsenal! I used to practice it a lot, and I can hit it about 80-90 percent of the time. It's pretty fun to watch your opponent run as fast as they can to get it, and it just roll back over to your side!

LOL! It's actually pretty easy to practice off the back hand side. If your ever bored one day just try to put as much backspin as possible with really solid core rotation and a near straight down racket face angle!

Presented this as a trivia question to the community on our Social Media sites. About 60% of the players got it right. It's probably like a hole in where a lot of people might never see it happen or do it in their tennis playing days.

I sent my doubles partner over the net last week. Really. He is very tall, went for a short ball, kept going, spun around to face the baseline, then dumped over the middle of the net, feet up, head down. Once we confirmed he was not hurt we could all get a good laugh about it.

Reposting here. And yes, I was down 15-40 2-5 when I hit the shot. Yesterday in my CF match I was up 40-0 5-4 triple match point and my opponent managed to do it on a return. I presented him with the gift of a forehand crosscourt winner on the next point.

I've overheaded one like that. It was a super miss-hit off the top of the frame. Backspin like crazy. I insisted that the scorekeeper mark it down as a "winner."

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I did the same thing once. It was during a mixed league match. Of course it happened when the other 2 teams were getting water so they were watching the point. My opponents were friends, so after I hit the shot and won the point I raised my arms triumphantly. Everyone laughed about it the rest of the day and busted on me forever. It was much funnier if you were there.....

I do it quite often and always in the same circumstances. Not a mishit but not deliberate either - a pure reaction shot. It is playing doubles when I am at the net in the ad court and the opposing player at the baseline hits hard and low to try to pass me down the alley. And I hit a full stretch, lunging backhand volley and when it goes over it only just does and has sufficient backspin to bounce back to my side.

BTW - you are right this is the one time when the opponent is allowed to hit the ball on your side of the net - although they must not also hit or touch the net before the ball has gone dead. Other times ball must be struck on their side of the net although follow through can be over net providing net not touched before the ball has gone dead. Although actually calling and enforcing that in an unofficiated match ....